With Hovering on an Hamaca, artists Camila Salcedo and Erick Rodriguez explore the complicated experience that immigrants face when leaving a familiar home country, but also being contemporary “settlers” in a colonized land. This collaboration is a way to connect to their roots as Latin Americans living in Canada, while grappling with the idea of Latinx identities and their place in the greater landscape of the world.

The installation consists of a large rag-rug hung like a hammock. Made up of many colours and clothing items, the rug is a reminiscence of the vivid hues used in Latin American craft and the representation of the dissolution of national borders, hybridization, and the unifying of Latinx immigrants abroad and all over the world.

Inside the hammock, 20 ceramic vessels of varying sizes represent the number of immigrants living abroad from each Latin American country. The merging of these two craft techniques is a celebration of Latin American crafts and a representation of the nomadic nature of Latinx migrants living in a space of liminal identity.

Camila Salcedo and Erick Rodriguez are two Latinx-Canadian artists that have been compadres and friends since 2010.

Camila Salcedo is currently enrolled at NSCAD University in her fourth year in the Interdisciplinary Fine Arts Program. Originally from Venezuela, she is interested in multi-disciplinary art ranging in mediums such as performance art, video art, installation, textiles, ceramics, audio work and curation.

Erick Rodriguez is attending OCAD University in his fourth year in the Graphic Design Program. Native of Colombia, Rodriguez mainly works in product design and graphic design, with an interest in design driven by functionality and a minimalist style.